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The Tao Colorist Curated links of news, reviews, thoughts, career advice, and humor for professional Video / Film Colorists & Finishers. Delivered Sunday. Issue CLXXXIII
A TaoOfColor.com Publication Publisher: Pat Inhofer Managing Editor: Jim Wicks
From the Publisher |
Two NAB items this week. First, the Colorist Mixer:
- The Eventbrite registration page is ready for the 2014 Colorist Mixer at NAB! Yes, this year we're asking you to register since we'll be giving out free stuff out. It's happening Sunday
night, April 6 at The Bar in the Monte Carlo Hotel. Click through to register and for full details. Tickets are free but limited!
- I also want to offer a quick shout-out to the creators of our
favorite gear and software who are supporting this event. Their enthusiastic support has been amazing - allowing us to help you get NAB started with some food, drink and swag. Here's the list of our supporting Sponsors (in no particular order... and this list is likely to grow):
Blackmagic Design | Flanders Scientific | Dolby | SpectraCal | Adobe | Digital Vision | Light
Illusion | SGO Mistika | Tangent
THANK YOU, our Sponsors, all!
Second, I've put together a new section for NAB 2014. - If you run across any happenings that our readers may want to sign up for or visit, reply to this email and send us the link. If it's appropriate I'll add it to that
section.
See you next week. Happy Grading! |
The Craft |
- [videos] Grading Rich Hill - Colorist Chris Hall talks about grading a film for the Sundance Film Festival. His blog post opens up
with an interesting perspective on the job of a Digital Colorist that all of us might identify with. (chrishallcolor.blogspot.com)
- The art of color rendering - Click through to explore color's prominent role in influencing audience psychology. (redsharknews.com)
- [videos] DIT - if you are interested in becoming a Digital Imaging Technician, head over to Film Editor Jonny Elwyn's site. He has compiled a ginormous list of info for anyone wanting to know more about what it means to be a DIT. Lots of videos. (jonnyelwyn.co.uk)
- 7 Day Colour Challenge - Not quite the color challenge we normally deal with in this
newsletter. But I betch'a there's more than one color-loving newsletter reader that will find this challenge... um... challenging. (styleandshenanigans.com)
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The Tools |
- [app] Color on the go - need a color studio in your pocket? With Cinekolor you can create looks on the go, and export 3D LUTs. Free download from the app store (itunes.apple.com) or at the designer's website (vfxwarrior.com).
- Keeping email an effective tool - Email can be an essential collaborative tool - or a disaster waiting to happen. Filmmaker, guru and legend Stu Maschwitz lists 10 tweets about what email is or isn't good for.
(stumaschwitz.com)
- [video] Avid
AutoNotch Shortcut - for prepping a timeline for color grading. A GREAT tip for notching out a self-contained file. (youtube.com via Avid-L2)
- Arq: Online Backup for Amazon Glacier - This is a nifty Mac app that puts a graphical user interface on Amazon's Glacier long-term backup service. At one
penny a GB, Glacier is pretty enticing and Arq has a nice feature set to support it. (haystacksoftware.com)
- GoPro Hero: Workflow for Various NLEs - Because our clients expect us to know this stuff. Covers Avid, FCPx and GoPro Studio. (lfhd.net)
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CalMAN builds LUTs for Resolve. To
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The Business |
- Life After Pi - How does a Visual Effects house, the year it wins its third Emmy, go into bankruptcy? Former employees created a 30 minute documentary recorded in the weeks after the
Rhythm & Hues bankruptcy. It starts streaming from Netflix on Feb 25. (latimes.com)
- NBC Olympics goes tapeless - "If you look around here, there are practically no tape machines, with the exception of the multiformat dub wall in case we get any [tape] material from other broadcasters we want to use . . . Now we have gotten to
a point where they can reach out from the venue on the 1-gig circuit all the way back to our Stamford office and bring material back." Interesting article. (sportsvideo.org)
- 4K is arriving at precisely the right time - The adoption rate of entertainment technology is accelerating all the
time. According to this article, rather than being too early 4K is arriving just when it's needed. (redsharknews.com)
- Peer Wars: Netflix SuperHD May Explain Video Traffic Slowdowns - "Netflix performance for Verizon customers is deteriorating because Verizon may be delaying bandwidth upgrades until it receives compensation for handling the
growing amount of traffic coming from the online video provider." (stopthecap.com)
- Understanding the Copyright Wars - Broadcast retransmission company Aero is having its case heard by the US Supreme Court (they're being sued by the ABC television network). This article gets you up to speed and looks at two other recent (and
interesting) copyright cases. (blogs.hbr.org)
- How Copyright makes books and music disapper - "A random sample of new books for sale on Amazon.com shows more books for sale from the 1880's than the 1980's. Why? This paper presents new data on how copyright seems to make works disappear." (papers.ssrn.com)
- Is it time for a competitor to the Olympics? - An interesting perspective and idea. (sethgodin.typepad.com)
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Friends & Family |
MixingLight.com is a companion membership website to TaoOfColor.com. Want to read a story listed here but not a member? A free 24-hour test drive is available. - [video] The 'Split Color' technique - aggressive complementary colors on both sides of the frame. For when a client wants something eye-catching. (mixinglight.com)
- [video] Color correcting with multiple aspect ratios -
A recent job of mine had two sets of deliverables with two different aspect ratios. The DP came up with a nifty shooting chart allowing him to extract the two different framings without resorting to Pan and Scan. I share this chart and how we worked checking the framing while grading. (mixinglight.com)
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for 3D Calibration LUTs and 3D DIT LUTs , 3G/ Dual-Link/ HD/ SD-SDI Inputs, 13 onboard scopes on all inputs and world class support. All standard and starting at only $2,495. Learn More About the FSI CM Series Monitors
What's Happening: NAB 2014 |
- Colorist Mixer - You're invited! Join Tao Of Color, Mixing Light and the International Colorist Association for an evening of food, drink and geeky conversation. This is a great time
to put a face and voice all those Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and LiftGammaGain names you've been following and interacting with. Free registration. Sunday, April 6, 7:30p - 11:30p. Click for full details and to sign-up. (eventbrite.com)
- Get your Exhibits-Only Pass - If you haven't already, register for your Exhibits-Only Pass. Use this registration code from Flanders Scientific: LV2623 (registration3.experientevent.com)
- Las Vegas SuperMeet - The Mega-Ball of User Groups, with the biggest raffle of them all. Join hundreds and hundreds of your peers at this annual event. See you there! (eventbrite.com)
- Media Motion Ball - The grand-daddy of networking events for post-production pros, it's a sit-down dinner with a who's-who of attendees. A great time. They have limited seats so I recommend you sign up now. I just did. (eventbrite.com)
- Las Vegas Monorail Pass Discounts - there are fewer multi-day options with these discounted tickets but you'll save a few bucks. (tickets.lvmonorail.com) Or check out the
non-NAB monorail ticket page - for a few extra dollars you may find a plan more suited to the length of your stay. (tickets.lvmonorail.com) Either way, it's a heck of a lot
easier than the ridiculous waits (and fewer choices) buying a pass when you're in Vegas.
- NAB Survival Guide, 2014 Edition - Toolfarm's Michele Yamazaki updates this classic guide for 2014. Includes tips on transportation options, surviving the show
floor, spouses plus includes links to other Survival Guides. (toolfarm.com)
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Outside 'The Box' |
- [podcast] The Inertia Conundrum - Chris Potter, co-founder of ScreenLight, discusses the current state of remote video collaboration and what to do about 'the inertia conundrum'. Click through to listen and discover what precisely he's talking about. (splicevine.com)
- Nice glass -
Cinematographer's love their glass. And Cooke glass is coveted by top movie makers. This details how they makes their lenses. (redsharknews.com)
- Vimeo gets updated - the online video sharing website adds subtitles and improves Vimeo Pro. Filmmaker Philip Bloom walks you through the changes. (philipbloom.net)
- Psycho Puzzle - film is a collaborative art form. But the eternal question remains: who directed the famous Psycho shower scene? Some say it was Hitchcock, some say Saul Bass. Play detective, and read on to uncover the clues. (vashivisuals.com)
- Resolution vs Sensor Size - which matters more? (yahoo.com)
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Edumacate Yer'self |
Autodesk Flame Color Management Workshop - in NYC with Cedric Lejeune. February 25th - February 26th (eventbrite.com via @C_Workflowers) [video] Rolling Shutter - the phenomenon of Rolling Shutter is not confined to just the way DSLR cameras record video. It occurs naturally in real life. How is that possible? The answer is pretty trippy, and dramatic. (youtube.com) 10 Best 'Making Of' Documentaries you need to watch -
(tasteofcinema.com via filmmakeriq.com) [video] SMPTE: An introduction to holographic television - "explain(s) what true holographic television is . . . describe how recent developments in image capture, standardization, and computation may bring holographic television to market affordably sooner than many have predicted" (youtu.be)
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Current Colorist Control Surface Drivers |
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Sunday Morning Fun(nies) |
- How
do you do? - What do we mean when we say hello? The answer depends on where you live. A fun read. (theatlantic.com)
- [video] Netflix introduces new plan - watch this and then tell me someone in your household isn't the perfect person for this new 'plan'. (youtu.be)
- [video] Honest Trailers: Gravity - Heh. (youtu.be)
- [video] GoPro falls from airplane, lands in pigpen - the camera was found 8 months later. The Tao Treasurer didn't find this amusing. It had me astonished (the camera was spinning so fast it eventually
showed the direction it was falling) and laughing out loud (hogs!). You decide. But if you click, be sure to watch it through to the end. (youtu.be)
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Weekend Warriors |
- Six reasons you should own a survival bow and arrow - And the imminent Zombie Apocalypse isn't one of them. (artofmanliness.com)
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Gear Heads |
- MacPro: from tower to tube - after buying a new Mac Pro, this
die-hard user had to rebuild his old tower's functionality with new Thunderbolt peripherals for his new tube. Here's how he did it. (library.creativecow.net via Rich Roddman)
- [video] 4K on the new Mac Pro - the key phrase in this video: 'this machine - in combination with - ... is able to do this.' Translated: computer speed is important, but so is the speed of the hard drive.
Part of MacProVideo's series on the 2013 Mac Pro. (youtube.com)
- Dobly Vision: The future of TV is really really bright - "It's a set of technologies that cover everything from the mastering process to displays themselves". Dolby is trying to set a new standard. (theverge.com)
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New Kid on the Block |
- [review] Panasonic GH4 - this camera shoots 4K. But the most
interesting part of this article is the discussion of downsampling 4K 8-bit 4:2:0 to 1080p 10-bit 4:4:4. Huh? Click to read about the math. (eoshd.com)
- Now shipping: Blackmagic 4K - Blackmagic Design announces its new Production Camera 4K is now shipping. At a $1000 discount from its originally announced price. (news.creativecow.net)
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Getting Ahead |
- The psychological price of entrepreneurship - a lot of
Newsletter readers are the go-getter types. Seriously, take the time to read this. (inc.com)
- How to make yourself work - when you don't want to. (blogs.hbr.org)
- Eccentric Creatives - according to this article creative people NEED to be eccentric. How eccentric is your need to be
different? (99u.com)
- Client Horror
Story - have you ever taken a brick to the face? That's how a Canadian photographer felt after getting a strange email from a prospective client. The mandatory 'mouse reaction test' was just one of their crazy requests. Read the comments for additional laughs. (fstoppers.com)
- Five ways to beat creative roadblocks -
making your inner critic shut up and other methods for beating creative blocks. (fastcompany.com via 99u.com)
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Showcase |
- [video] Apasara Pencils - this is a very nice TV Commercial graded by DI Colorist Swapnil Patole. He emailed us to say that the commercial was shot on Red Epic 5k. Swapnil graded in a Lustre 2014 system. The final look was driven by the client and agency. Nice work! (vimeo.com)
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The Next Step is a Doozy |
- Big Leap for Fusion - more energy was produced than required to ignite it. But is it self-sustaining? (arstechnica.com)
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A Step Too Far? |
- Hollywood Telemarketing Practices - defrauding Middle America investors. Pathetic. No better than penny-stock boiler room operations. The films might be real but the promises are lies. (cbsnews.com)
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Th- Th- That's ALL Folks! See you next week. Happy Grading!
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The Book Shelf
- Color Correction Handbook, Updated - Alexis Van Hurkman has updated his Color Correction Handbook, which has set the standard for learning all things color correction. (amazon.com)
- Color Correction Look Book - This is the second part of the Color Correction Handbook, exploring the creative techniques for over 200 different visual looks. A sort-of recipe book for colorists. (amazon.com)
- The Art and Technique of Digital Color Correction - Read how a dozen different colorists grade the same footage with the same gear, differently. A fantastic approach to learning the craft of color grading by Steve Hullfish. (amazon.com)
- Autodesk Smoke Essentials - Walk through grading a short sci-fi film (with downloadable ProRes4444 source material) while learning the ultimate online finishing app... Autodesk Smoke. (amazon.com)
- Color Grading with Avid and Symphony - Written for version 6. Fully applicable to version 7. I was a contributor. (amazon.com)
- Adobe Speedgrade CC: Classroom in a Book - A solid book for a solid grading app. (amazon.com)
Have a book you think should be in this list? Reply to this email and let me know! FCC Disclaimer: Links in this email to Amazon.com, B&H Photo, or ToolFarm.com are Affiliate links that help support the TaoOfColor.com. FSI and SpectraCal are paid sponsors and BlackMagic Design
is a current client. We thank you for your support.
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Published by:
Patrick Inhofer: Photon-Wrangler, Fini.tv | TaoOfColor.com | MixingLight.com
patrick@taoofcolor.com
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